Bittersweet Halloween

As I sit down to write a blog about this week’s Halloween festivities I can’t help but thinking that this is the last Halloween I will have here in Bulgaria. It’s somewhat bittersweet to know that every day becomes that much closer to me leaving Bulgaria as I’m much closer to my close of service date than I am to the date I became a volunteer. Every event is now a last and so I want so badly for things to work as well as possible. However, things don’t always work out the way they are intended. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not heading into a depressing, things didn’t work, not doing this again message because this blog definitely is not about that. Though, while some things about yesterday’s carnival worked other things definitely did not.

After counting all the tickets, there were 238 students from 1^st through 4^th grade who attended yesterday’s carnival with a parent or adult. That’s a lot of people at once but I had no idea when I first put up the posters how many of our elementary students would buy tickets. There are about 500 students in 1^st through 4^th grade at my school so I’d say we had a great turnout for the first year. If you're a numbers person, or just plain interested, here you are:

The attendees included:

• 80 first graders (31 boys, 49 girls)
• 63 second graders (35 boys, 28 girls)
• 43 third graders (17 boys, 26 girls)
• 43 fourth graders (21 boys, 22 girls)
• 9 students did not mark their grade (3 boys, 6 girls)
• That's 107 total boys and 131 total girls equaling 238 children (who each brought an adult)

I really hope my school tries again next year as I think most of the activities were well received. The problems of yesterday inherently stemmed from the carnival being a new thing at my school. It was organized in stations and there were 15 different activities for kids to participate in. However, with so many people around, things got somewhat more chaotic at times than I’d hoped for. Also, we had a spur-of-the-moment “costume contest” which definitely did not go very well since it wasn’t even planned for. I believe all the kids had a great time and it was the parents who made things a bit more difficult. The idea was for parents to help their kids and do things with them however there was a lot of standing around.

Several teachers along with students from 6^th, 7^th, and 12^th grade helped out which was awesome! Our activities ended up being face painting, photo booth, hand ghosts, how-to-draw cat/bat/spider-web, bobbing for apples, word searches, mazes, coloring, making English words, stick the mouth on the pumpkin, Bulgarian mad libs, basketball toss, football (soccer) kick, relay race, and bingo. It was a lot to organize and though I received a few negative comments, I’d say it was a great first attempt and they could hold a successful carnival next year only by having the students come by grade and removing most of the parents from the mix. There were some awesome costumes and many of the students brought carved pumpkins which was wonderful. All the comments I received today from students and staff were excellent so that made me feel it was much more successful than I felt leaving school yesterday.

All of the Halloween Carnival photos can be accessed HERE or under the “links” section by clicking “Halloween Carnival 2011”.

Today we continued with the theme of Halloween in my 3^rd grade English classes through singing two different songs and playing letter bingo. If students got a bingo they won a piece of candy however all students received a spider ring at the end of class. It was a fun day. Here’s a few clips of 3 "V":

Not many of them knew I was videoing until the end:

This afternoon I met up with Amy (another volunteer) to have lunch and get photos from here that she took yesterday. Tonight I’m going to a student’s dance performance which I’m excited about. It’s nice being invited to so many things this year. I hope all of you reading have a wonderful Halloween!

Also, don’t forget to check out my Peace Corps Partnership Project I’m trying to fund at the moment. It can be found here (please email me if you know of any people who may be able to donate):

English Enrichment Workshops

And lastly, thank you for everyone who is reading as I have now hit over 10,000 views! 

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Election Day

It's Sunday afternoon and I just had a delicious lunch of pears and cauliflower with cheese. This week was a regular school week except now I teach 3rd grade in the mornings instead of the afternoons as they have changed shifts. It will stay this way through December. There is no school tomorrow due to Sunday's elections which are taking place as I write this, so I have lots of time to finish things here at my place which is nice.

The crazy day of this last week was Monday. We had a storm filled with rain and winds of 70 km/hour. Getting home from school made for quite a bit of difficulty Monday afternoon. All the taxi company phone lines were busy so I decided I would try for the bus. Well the bus was broken down (though still running) so I stayed there and waited and they finally got it to start. Then it was a slow journey to the stop closest to my apartment building since the rain "puddles" were higher than the bottom of the bus at times. Walking the short 5 minutes from the bus to my apartment meant I was soaked to the skin with cold rain everywhere except what was under my rain jacket. Needless to say I got home, changed clothes and sat next to my heater for a bit to warm up. The wind even blew open the door to my terrace and one of my windows a few times in the evening. It was so loud I even wore earplugs to sleep. Seeing the city after the storm meant many downed trees and dead birds. Also, many of the villages around the city had no power for up to 4 days. It was quite the weather and I'm glad it wasn't like that any other day of the week.

   

On to better news though...

Saturday night I was able to go to the children's musical of Thumbelina here in Sliven. One of my 3rd grade girls was part of the dance chorus. It was adorable and a well executed. There were several set and costume changes which flowed nicely throughout the performance. I went with another volunteer as my student's father is her Bulgarian tutor.

This weekend has been filled with knitting, online TV, movies, listening to music, and making things for school. I'm not even ashamed to say I've been playing Settlers of Catan online with a few other volunteers in the evenings. Last night we played a few games. I didn't win either but it was still fun, I just learned how to play this week so I have some catching up to do. I'm kind of excited to potentially play the game in person at some point and not just online to see which I prefer. I think it'd be easier to comment verbally than type everything out but otherwise I like the game.

I'm interested to see who wins the mayoral race here in Sliven. There are MANY candidates and posters have been strewn across the city for the last month. If you're at all interested in the elections here. There are a few articles you can find through these links:

Elections 1
Elections 2
Elections 3

I hope you're all having a relaxing Sunday!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

PCPP

For the last few months I’ve been working on getting my PCPP submitted. What is a PCPP? Well it stands for Peace Corps Partnership Project and it is a way for Peace Corps to funnel donations straight to volunteer projects. I’m currently asking for funds to support “EFL Enrichment Workshops”(EFL = English as a Foreign Language). The description of my project, which also can be found by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post, is as follows:

Offering new and innovative pedagogy has become one of my goals as a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Bulgaria. While it is important to follow the guidelines of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education, it is essential to meet students’ varied learning needs and styles through supplementary activities. Through daylong “EFL Enrichment Workshops” in the five cities of Sliven, Plovdiv, Kazanluk, Vratsa, and Varna; 75 Bulgarian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers will be invited to learn new ways to enhance their classrooms. I will lead the workshops along with another Peace Corps Volunteer and a Bulgarian EFL Teacher. After the workshop, teachers will be provided with the materials necessary to implement the games and activities discussed.

In addition to the activities, teachers will leave with the “Classroom Survival Kit”. In many Bulgarian schools, students are responsible for their materials. If these students forget their materials or cannot afford them they often sit out during certain activities as there are not enough supplies to accommodate everyone. To help remedy this issue, teachers will leave with a kit of extra supplies to account for about five students coming unprepared.

Students will be more likely to engage during class if the material is presented in a fun, interactive manner and they have all the resources necessary to participate. Upon arriving back to their communities, the attendees will be able to share their knowledge with fellow EFL teachers. Please consider contributing to this project to support EFL education.

Any amount of donations are appreciated. My goal is to have this project funded by the end of December. There is a great deal of interest in this project by Bulgarian teachers; therefore, I'm excited to see this project funded and assist future generations of English learners through their EFL teachers. 

Please share this information with anyone you feel may be interested in donating and visit here for more info:

EFL Enrichment Workshops

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

A Lovely Friday

My bus ride to school today was definitely one of the best yet. It’s just a short ride but since it takes me about 30-35 minutes to walk to school, I usually take the bus on the way there to cut some time. Anyways, I was immediately greeted by a “Hello Kate”. It turns out one of my 3^rd graders was on the bus with her grandma. I also learned that she has always lived with her grandma since something happened with her mother and/or father. She’s a very sweet girl and is very enjoyable to be around. I’m glad she has a caring person to live with.

At the next stop two women got on with a baby girl. The bus was packed so it was hard to find a place for them to sit however people moved a bit and they found a place. The woman who sat down with the baby was beautiful, someone who makes you look twice and not because of how they are styled. I wish I could have taken a photo. The old women all sitting around her immediately asked if it was her baby as she obviously was not very old. She said it wasn’t, it was the other woman’s baby and she was just holding it. She said she was 17 and was married but didn’t have any children. The baby was also adorable with her cute little pierced ears and interest in touching my hair. They simply made for a great ride that ended all too soon.

After arriving at school I had a spelling/speaking class with my 3^rd graders. Out of about 50 kids that could have come, there were 30 there so I’d say that’s a good turnout (this was the 2^nd group of 3^rd graders this week). There weren’t even enough chairs in the room to fit them all. I’m going to have to figure out if we can get anything accomplished with that many or if I’ll have to find a way to split them into two groups. After spelling I had a bit of a break until my 1^st class however since they were taking a test and the next class was as well, I wasn’t really needed. So I went into another room and worked on decorations for our school Halloween Carnival at the end of the month. I ended up making about 30 pumpkins and a “Happy Halloween” sign. Plus I finished the “stick the mouth on the pumpkin” pumpkin.

The surprise of the day in the 3^rd grade was seeing a very familiar face when I walked into one of the rooms. It turns out one of the boys who frequently begs for money at not only the train station but in the center of town is now going to my school. He’s not much older than the rest of the 3^rd graders but he hasn’t been in school for a while. I’m hoping he stays as he is obviously a smart kid, he just needs an education so he stop begging for money. He’s sweet and wanted to talk to me quite a bit once he found out I would be helping to teach him English. He thought I spoke fluent Bulgarian. Haha, no, I definitely do not but I get by.

The other two classes of third grade went well. I worked with two kids out in the hallway during most of both classes and some of them surprised me. They’re all great kids, it’s just hard to know what they know in a large classroom setting. We’re able to get things done so efficiently and I can easily assess them while we’re working in a small group. I also got tons of hugs and a few pictures from the kids today which are always nice. Now for a  relaxing Friday evening of some dinner, online TV, skype, and probably a bit of knitting. 

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Steve Jobs

After a lovely morning of picking up two packages from my wonderful parents I had lunch and was off to school for my afternoon classes. Though they were a bit hectic, everything went fine and after finishing my work I came back to my place. Upon getting on facebook I noticed all the postings about Steve Jobs and learned he died yesterday. He was such an innovative, brilliant mind of our current time. Though it is sad to see him go I can only be amazed by all he was able to accomplish during his life and what more he could have done had he been around a bit longer. He is a true inspiration and role model in many ways. From his work with technology to his thoughts on life, he was inspiring. This is one of my favorite quotes of his:

Thank you for all you have done and let your work inspire future generations to not only persevere but to pursue happiness.

For more information on Steve Jobs here are a few websites:

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html
http://allaboutstevejobs.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

3rd Grade

Today was International Teacher's Day which meant I was wished a "Happy Holiday" by several staff and students. However the best parts of the day were during my 3rd grade lessons. As I am fortunate enough to team teach everything for third grade, there is a bit of flexibility. I teach with three different women and we have recently started with the routine of we are both in the room for the first 10 minutes of class in which we go over new vocabulary, pronunciation, or dialogues. Then I go into the hallway with two students in order for me not only to assess their knowledge but to teach them some fun small group games and get to know them better. Then we come back into the room when there are 5 to 10 minutes left (classes are 40 minutes long) and we all go over information again or play a game.

Today, one girl reminded me that the photos I have taken of them are not online so they are now! They can be found under the "Links" section and are titled "3rd Grade". Enjoy!

Second, I received not only a card but some beads and a bracelet today all handmade from students which was extremely thoughtful and appreciated.

And third, after one of the classes was finished with their test we all sat in the front of the room looking at books (English Children's Literature). Three girls sat with me while I read them a few books and upon me leaving the room I received quite the group hug. Fabulous end to the day!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Saturday in Sliven

Today I was able to spend some time with Amy (a fabulous volunteer who lives near me) here in Sliven. I met her at the market where we walked around and found some great knitted goods and pottery. We stopped for lunch afterwards where we had a lovely chat about potential future careers. It was a conversation that definitely made me appreciate being American and having ideas have the potential to become a reality more so than they would in other places. It turns out Amy and I are pretty much on the same page of what would be an amazing career for me. We'll see if it ever happens. It's so funny to me that we haven't even known each other for very long because I feel that she knows me pretty darn well. Maybe it's one of her gifts. No matter what, we seem to have a good time when we get together which I appreciate. She's definitely a major asset to me being so close and being such a great friend. Want to know what makes here even better? She enjoys playgrounds just as much as I do if not more. After we went to my place to drop off a few things we stopped by the Kindergarten in my neighborhood to have a little fun. After going down the slide a few times and taking some photos and man stopped by on his bike. Turns out he speaks English and offered to take a photo of the two of us. We kindly said "Yes, please" and he got a few of both of us. He was very sweet and told us he goes hiking with a group of people from Sliven (some of the people are English teachers in town) and to call him if we ever wanted to join them.

After the playground we headed toward the center to run our errands. I ended up finding some great postcards and we took a break for some crepes and coffee. Yum! Then Amy headed back to her village and I came back to my place. It was an overall great day. Thumbs up for good friends and nice fall days.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.